The 731 page book, above summarized, entitled “The Legal Foundation and Borders of Israel Under International Law” by Professor Howard Grief is an indepth study of the subject, and should be considered required reading for anyone interested in the true history surrounding the conflict between the State of Israel and the Arab and Muslim world.

We are bombarded constantly with the claims of alleged Israeli brutality and unfairness towards the Arabs in the Administered Territories, known historically as Judea and Samaria.

Howard Grief, author of the exhaustive work entitled, “The Legal Foundation and Borders of Israel under International Law“, on the San Remo Conference, “The San Remo Resolution converted the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917 from a mere statement of British policy expressing sympathy with the goal of the Zionist movement to create a Jewish state into a binding act of international law that required specific fulfillment by Britain of this object in active cooperation with the Jewish people….The term “Jewish National Home” was defined to mean a state by the British government at the Cabinet session which approved the Balfour Declaration on October 31, 1917….It was absurd to imagine that this phrase could be used to indicate that only a part of Palestine was reserved for the future Jewish National Home, since both were created simultaneously and used interchangeably, with the term “Palestine” pointing out the geographical location of the future independent Jewish state.” Link for more reading here.

Below is the map of the original British Mandate, which committed Britain legally to the job of facilitating the creation of a national homeland for the Jewish people, a comittment which they later reneged, thus violating international law, because it was no longer in the British national interest to keep their word, what with the increasing need for Middle Eastern (Arab) oil.

The British illegally backed out of this commitment. The World Zionist Organization proposed a significantly scaled down map. However, in the end, the Yishuv (Jewish community living in Eretz Israel prior to statehood) had to settle for the following UN Partition Plan. It was a hard pill to swallow, and has been dubbed “Auschwitz borders”, but the Jewish community accepted it, grateful for some corner of the earth to call their own. The Arab world rejected this plan and went to war shortly after Israel was re-born. In fact, Ben-Gurion could hear the beginnings of war as he declared Israel’s independence.

Look at the map below, from The Israeli Committe Against (Arab) House Demolitions (ICAHD). They don’t trouble themselves with Jewish home demolitions, which go on constantly, often in the dead of night against Jewish homes on legally purchased Jewish land; nor were they around during the Gush Katif expulsions, except perhaps to cheer on the destroyers; nor do they object or demonstrate against the current defacto restrictions against Jews building in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem. Treating two populations living in the same region in such a radically different manner without cause (to prevent terrorism) is against international law.

Seems pretty darn unfair, doesn’t it?

Except, when one looks at the broad overview. See the map below, which demonstrates the real truth of the matter. Consider just how small the nation of Israel is, compared to the vastness of the entire Muslim empire. Then read some good history books (written by bona fide, scholarly and objective historians). And as you read, compare these maps. The Jewish people have been willing to compromise and settle for less and less and less. It seems to never satisfy the Arab/Muslim world, or to bring peace. That is because the conflict is not about land or political rights. Land and political rights are strawman arguments put out there to confuse those who don’t look at the total picture.

Glezele Vayne’s top six recommended organizations that deserve the Zionist dollar: